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AN ADDRESS 



DELIYEEED AT THE 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 






CAMBRIDGE DIVINITY SCHOOL, 



JULY 17. 1SG7, 



By EZRA "S. GANNETT. 



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BOSTON: 

LEONARD C . BOWi.ES. 

1867. 






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Book ,C(Sj>65" 



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AN ADDRESS 



VER15U AT THE 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 



CAMBRIDGE DIVINITY SCHOOL, 



JULY 17. 1867, 



By EZRA S/; GANNETT. • 



BOSTON: 

LEONARD C. BOWLES. 

1867. 



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o 



IN EXCHANGE 



ADDRESS. 



Brethren of the Alumni of the Cambridge Divinity 
School : — 

You were pleased on our last anniversary to provide for 
the delivery at this time of " a commemorative discourse, re- 
viewing the history of the School for the last half-century ; " 
and committed this service to my hands. With so much be- 
fore me which I ought to say, and so much that for want of 
time cannot be said, I will not detain you with more than a 
single word of acknowledgment, nor obtrude a needless con- 
fession of inability to treat the theme as it might have been 
handled by many others. If I may brush away the dust that 
in the course of years has settled on your recollections of a 
history of which our own experience formed a part, or may 
remind you of the purposes and principles which marked the 
commencement and have been interwoven with the growth 
of this institution, I shall have accomplished all that it be- 
comes me to undertake. 

It is not easy to fix a precise date for the birth of our 
School. The votes passed by the alumni last year were 
founded on the instruction given with the programme of 
Exercises, that we were then attending the " fiftieth Annual 
Visitation." Dr. Palfrey, whose accuracy is unimpeachable, 
informs us that the first Aunual Visitation for the reading of 
dissertations is believed to have taken place December 17, 



1817. The Catalogue of the Alumni, issued in 1844, repeats 
this statement, and, after remarking that "the year 1816, 
when Dr. Ware gave instruction in Systematic Theology and 
other branches, and Mr. Norton in Sacred Literature, may on 
the whole be regarded as the first year of the existence of the 
Theological School in Cambridge," places the class of 1817 
at the head of its list of graduates. If, therefore, we be 
tardy in celebrating our semi-centennial, we need ask for- 
giveness of the chronologists but for a few months' delay. 

The interest which the- College has taken in preparing 
young men for the ministry did not, however, begin half a 
century ago. It is coeval with the origin of the University. 
Each of the three College seals, alike by its device and by its 
motto, dedicates the institution to sacred uses. "During the 
first period of its existence," embracing fifty years, says Pres- 
ident Quincy, "the College was conducted as a theological 
institution, in strict coincidence with the nature of the politi- 
cal constitution of the colony ; having religion for its basis and 
chief object." A strictly professional education was, indeed, 
in the early times, and long afterwards, a thing unknown. 
Dr. Sprague's remark in his "Annals of the American Pul- 
pit," that " whenever a young man had finished his college 
studies, if he considered himself as qualified, and could find 
some friendly gentleman in the ministry to introduce him in 
the pulpit, he began to preach, without any examination or 
recommendation from any body of ministers or churches," if 
slightly sarcastic, had a basis of historic truth. No regular 
course of instruction was accessible till the commencement 
of the present century, and the student could only avail him- 
self — seldom for more than a year or two — of the advice 
of some minister, whose judgment might be a guide to him 
in his inquiries after the substance or form of Divine truth. 
A custom naturally grew up by which certain persons, emi- 
nent for intellectual gifts or practical qualities, became known 
as the theological tutors of their day. " No less than eighty- 
seven young men studied theology under the direction " of 
the late Dr. Emmons, " in the term of about fifty years : " — 
the Rev. Dr. Backus, of Connecticut, in the last fifteen years 



of his ministry " received nearly fifty into his family," to 
whom he gave the benefit of his instruction. 

With the advancing intelligence of the people, and espe- 
cially with the introduction of critical study as a branch of 
theological training, a more thorough and systematic educa- 
tion was felt to be proper for those who should become the 
religious teachers of the land. The opportunities for general 
study which Cambridge offered, with the help to be derived 
from the Hollis Professor of Divinity, had for many years in- 
duced young men, on leaving college, to remain here as "Res- 
ident Graduates," in the expectation of finding advantages 
superior to any enjoyed under strictly private tuition. Dr. 
Ware "began a course of exercises in 1811," which "may be 
regarded as the first attempt towards a systematic arrangement 
of regular studies in this department." President Kirkland, 
who had in the previous year been persuaded to devote his 
brilliant gifts to the service of the College, lent his assistance. 
The Professor of Hebrew, whose scholarship, if it did not 
enkindle the wonder of his pupils, borrowed grace from a 
sincere and generous heart, pointed the way to an acquaint- 
ance with the Oriental languages ; and when in 1813 Mr. 
Norton was chosen " Dexter Lecturer in Biblical Literature," 
the foundations of a Theological Faculty may be said to have 
been laid. Still it could not be considered a component part 
of the University ; and the inadequacy of the funds from 
which aid could be furnished to those who needed it was 
keenly felt. Near the close of the year 1815, the Corporation 
addressed a circular to " the liberal and the pious," — a happy 
choice of words for their purpose, — in which they solicited 
funds for this object, and proposed the formation of " a So- 
ciety for the education of candidates for the ministry, in Cam- 
bridge University, to be constituted of subscribers." This 
was the origin of a society whose subsequent relation to the 
School was a source of much benefit, and of some perplexity. 
That it was an anomalous relation must be admitted ; and it 
may occasion surprise that so little trouble arose from a union 
of two bodies where one only could exercise efficient control. 
The attempt to increase the pecuniary ability of the College 



was successful. More than twenty-seven thousand dollars was 
raised, and was intrusted to the care of the Society for the 
Promotion of Theological Education in Harvard University, 
one article in the Constitution of which provided that " every 
encouragement be given to the serious, impartial, and un- 
biased investigation of Christian truth ; and that no assent to 
the peculiarities of any denomination of Christians be re- 
quired either of the students, or professors, or instructors." 
It was a two-edged blade, which the authors of that sentence 
forged, for their successors, as well as themselves, to wield. 

The success of this movement may be taken as marking 
the commencement of the Divinity School ; for, as we have 
seen, the first class graduated the next year, 1817. Of that 
class of six, all graduates of 1814 on the College Catalogue, 
two are now living, — the senior Minister-at-large in Boston, 
still active and indefatigable in duty, and the honored ex- 
President, on whose mental powers the pressure of years 
has rested like the autumn sunshine on the fruits. The next 
class contained eleven, all, with the exception of him who 
sang the Airs of Palestine, but stood up for right with a 
mailed hand, graduates of the College in 1815. From that 
time to the present, the classes have been very unequal in 
number. The largest, containing fourteen, left the school in 
1859 ; the smallest, having but two, in 1825. The whole 
number of alumni during the fifty years has been 379, giving 
an average of between seven and eight to a class ; of whom 
98 bear against their names the funereal star in the Triennial 
of 1866. Of the remaining 281, about three fifths are now 
engaged in the Christian ministry. Others have retired from 
the work ; some never entered upon it. 

It was not, however, till the inauguration of Mr. Norton, 
in 1819, as Professor on the foundation which had previ- 
ously sustained only a Lectureship, that the Theological 
School received a formal organization. The Hollis Professor 
of Divinity, the Hancock Professor of Hebrew, and the Al- 
ford Professor whose delightful exercises in Moral Philoso- 
phy were soon closed by death, were associated with the 
Dexter Professor; and at first sight it might be thought that 



a sufficient body of teachers was provided for a much larger 
number of pupils than claimed their attention. But only one 
of these gentlemen gave his. whole time to the School. The 
instruction devolved chiefly on Dr. Ware and Mr. Norton, — 
both remarkable men, diligent scholars, and able teachers. The 
younger members of this audience may know the former only 
through the traditions that preserve peculiarities of charac- 
ter or manner which give point to some pleasant anecdote ; 
but they who came under his influence can never forget the 
calm dignity, the practical wisdom, the judicial fairness, or 
the friendly interest which secured for him more than re- 
spect ; — it was veneration which we felt. That clear, strong 
mind abhorred double-dealing with truth or with man. As 
candid as he was firm, as little blinded by self-esteem as by 
sophistry, he taught us to hold in just regard alike the priv- 
ileges and the limitations of human thought. Theological 
study has extended its domain since his day ; his learning 
was not as various nor as profound as that of some other men 
in his own time ; but for that integrity of mind which is bet- 
ter than the most affluent knowledge, and for an honesty of 
life which foiled the calumnies of those who thought it no 
offence against morality to charge good men with a perver- 
sion of trusts, he is worthy of a place among them whose 
remembrance shall never die. 

The main burden in raising and supporting the reputation of 
the School fell on Professor Norton. Of him, too, it may not be 
easy for those who cannot recall evenings spent in that well- 
furnished library which he converted into the most attractive 
of recitation-rooms, to believe that he inspired an enthusiasm 
which still glows in hearts no longer young. Mr. Norton 
was one who could not be understood at a distance. With 
tastes, as well as habits of life, which separated him from 
general society, he was known, if known at all, outside the 
lines of intimacy, rather as a studious recluse than as a man 
of warm affections. Yet they wh o came nearest to him might 
tell us how admiration for the scholar melted into grateful 
esteem for the friend. His writings but partially reveal his 
character. A fastidious conscientiousness, as I tbink it may 



be styled, led him to retrench and erase, till the work which 
should have been his monument, " sere perennius," lies upon 
our shelves an unfinished Translation and, a fragmentary col- 
lection of Notes. His reputation, indeed, rests safely on his 
" Genuineness of the Gospels," and on his " Statement of 
Seasons," scarcely less admirable, nor less worthy of a per- 
manent place in theological literature. A leader among those 
who were then taunted as infidels, his religious faith was 
" like mount Zion, which cannot be removed." Standing be- 
tween Orthodoxy and Rationalism, he dealt heavy blows on 
either hand. Too individual to be sectarian, as the champion 
of an unpopular cause his single arm vindicated its right to 
respectful consideration. Mr. Norton erred through want of 
8}^mpathy with the multitude. He had little respect for the 
associations which, if they sometimes conceal mental poverty, 
more often uphold a trembling heart. That any one should 
wish to retain a doubtful word in the Common Version of the 
Scriptures, because it had grown dear to the experience of 
generations, seemed to him an offence against truth. Severe 
as a critic, and pungent in rebuke of personal fault, — when 
his class trusted him, how he took them into his embrace, and 
bore them into the store-houses of his great learning ! Let 
the alumni of this School never be negligent in restoring the 
lustre that may have faded from his name ! 

The progress of a few years sufficed to show the need of 
still ampler arrangements for theological education. In 1824 
a change was proposed in the terms of connection between 
the Corporation and the Society formed in 1816, which, 
though productive of some beneficial results, would, if it 
had been carried into full effect, have " vested the manage- 
ment of the School in the hands of a body in which the Col- 
lege Government had very little share." The Corporation 
withheld their consent from the Act of the Legislature confer- 
ring such power. Attention, however, having been drawn 
to the wants of the School, its friends exerted themselves 
again on its behalf, and nearly twenty thousand dollars were 
raised, by subscriptions for the erection of Divinity Hall, 
which was dedicated on the 29th of August, 1826. It may 



9 

not be unpleasant in these days, when the liberality of our 
churches is invoked for the enterprises we are undertaking, 
to accept the encouragement left us in the example of our 
fathers. On that subscription-list four names are pledged 
for a thousand dollars each, ten for five hundred, forty-five 
for a hundred or more each ; while smaller sums, many not 
exceeding five dollars, show that it was not the rich alone 
who in this way expressed their interest in the cause of reli- 
gious truth. By an appropriation of two thousand dollars 
at this time, the first step was taken in collecting a library for 
the special use of students in theology ; which, through an 
intermittent liberality in later years, has grown, as some of 
us who remember the meagre appearance of its shelves may 
be surprised to learn, till it now includes more than sixteen 
thousand volumes, well selected, and, in many instances, of 
great value. 

As early as 1827, as a fruit of the intimacy that naturally 
followed upon residence in the same building, the members 
of the School began a record of its internal history, which 
has been continued to the present time. On one of the 
earliest pages is preserved a motion which, it appears, was, 
after some debate, carried almost unanimously, and which 
may indicate both the tendency of thought and the practical 
activity that then prevailed. It was voted, in view of " the 
extraordinary exertions which unbelievers in Christianity are 
now making in this country, that a committee of the School 
be appointed to procure the publication of a cheap edition 
of Watson's Apology for the Bible ; " upon which, as the 
record tells us, " a subscription was immediately raised by 
the School, and a new edition " of the Apology " was struck 
off in a few weeks, and circulated as extensively as possible 
by means of the public auctions." I may not quote other 
pleasant passages which this volume of records contains ; 
but it would be an omission that some of the brethren might 
not forgive, if we passed over in silence the establishment of 
the Philanthropic Society in the summer of 1831, or the good 
service which members of the School in successive years ren- 
dered by their visits to the State's prison and the East Cam- 



10 

bridge jail, as well as more recently by the part they have 
taken in the teaching or superintendence of Sunday-schools 
in or near Cambridge. 

In the summer of 1828, Dr. Follen, who had for some time 
been teacher of the German language in the University, was 
appointed " Instructor in Ecclesiastical History and Ethics in 
the Theological School," and became, also, a member of the 
Faculty. Ethical study had been with him a favorite pursuit, 
and he could not fail to communicate to others his own lively 
interest. In consequence of a change in the plan on which 
the School was organized, Dr. Follen held this office but two 
years. In that time, however, the impression which his 
character and varied accomplishments made on his pupils 
was such as they still retain ; for no one who spent an hour 
in his company could be insensible to the charm of his rare 
excellence. Ardent in his devotion to liberty, sincere in his 
desire for truth, frank in avowing his convictions, with large 
sympathies and tender affections, few men have lived more 
worthy of esteem than he, few have secured a warmer regard 
or a more cordial respect. Driven from his native land by 
the action of despotic governments that dreaded his influ- 
ence, he brought to his adopted country the principles which 
gave consistency to his life. There and here a patriot, a 
scholar, and a Christian, his death, under circumstances 
which aggravated our grief, was for him a translation to the 
joy of the " good and faithful." 

In 1829, fresh proof was given that our School had watch- 
ful and generous friends, — in the subscription, easily filled, 
of more than thirteen thousand dollars for the establishment 
of a Professorship of Pulpit Eloquence and the Pastoral Care. 
That the younger Dr. Ware would be the incumbent of this 
chair was, doubtless, a motive which had special weight with 
the contributors. He did not enter on its duties till after his 
return from Europe, in the autumn of 1830. For twelve 
years, with feeble health, he gave to this School a force of 
purpose, a consecration of heart, and an amount of labor that 
no testimony of ours can exaggerate. When I think of his 
life, it seems to me more a romance than a reality. It was 



11 

so full of goodness, such an example of faith, such a pattern 
of industry, so self-contained and well proportioned, yet so 
direct an impulse and help to others, such an instance of 
what a man may be and what he may do under hindrances 
suited to rob him of efficiency, that I am tempted to ask if 
it is the actual or the mythical which his name represents. 
That God had bestowed on him the gift of genius, no one 
who has read the poetic effusions which occasion struck 
from his glowing mind can doubt ; that the end for which he 
lived was "the formation," in others, "of the Christian char- 
acter " which he himself exemplified, every line of prose that 
he wrote puts beyond question. Though sometimes cold or 
languid in manner, what warmth of holy feeling kept that 
true heart of his unchilled by sickness or disappointment j 
If there was little method in his life, there was only the more 
variety in his work. Positive in his belief, and practical in 
his aims, deeply religious and broadly charitable, his instruc- 
tion was too sincere to covet display, and his influence too 
pure to excite antagonism. A certain youthful simplicity 
clung to him to the last, and when he dropped the load of 
threescore years, the whispered word was not concerning the 
preacher or the professor, — we said, " Henry Ware has 
gone." 

The year which brought Mr. Ware to the School took from 
it the strength which had been its main support. Professor 
Norton resigned his office in the spring of 1830, and a further 
change was made in the organization of this department of 
the University. The connection between the Government 
of the College and the Society for the Promotion of Theo- 
logical Education was dissolved, the latter body transferring 
its funds, including its property in Divinity Hall, to the 
former under certain conditions, and obtaining at the next 
session of the General Court an Act of incorporation which, 
by erasing from its title the words that gave it a local pur- 
pose, authorized it to expend at its own discretion and in any 
quarter whatever funds might thereafter be intrusted to it. 
" The College," in the language of a Report to the Board of 
Overseers, drawn up by the late Judge Shaw, "on great 



12 

deliberation, established a Theological Faculty, upon a plan 
satisfactory to the Society, under a series of statutes, which 
were afterwards submitted to and approved by the Over- 
seers." In the opinion of this eminent jurist, the previous 
history of our School must have belonged to a period of im- 
mature development. " Down to this time," as we learn, 
" students had been in the habit of leaving the School 
at various stages of the course, to enter the pulpit." The 
material change, however, appears to have consisted in the 
creation of a distinct Faculty and the disallowance of any 
external control. Under the new arrangement, the Eev. 
John G-. Palfrey was called to the Professorship of Biblical 
Literature, which he filled with equal devotion and ability till 
the claims of a broader service withdrew him from the halls 
of learning. Thankful that to a future day must be left 
those words of eulogy which may not be spoken in the living 
presence, we are not precluded from an acknowledgment of 
the obligation under which, not his pupils only, but the 
churches also that bear this School upon their sympathies , 
were placed by the watchful care and thorough instruction 
which marked the nine years of his residence here. The 
published volumes with which he has enriched our sacred 
literature, reminding us of the aid Avhich free investigation 
and faithful study lend to each other, can open but a glimpse 
into the diligence and conscientiousness of research of which 
the classes under his instruction reaped the benefit. Their 
tongues are laden with grateful praise. 

The interest which the alumni felt in the place of their 
professional education was shown by the favor with which a 
proposal was received to form the Association I am now ad- 
dressing. A Committee appointed at the Visitation in July, 
1837, reported the next year resolutions, which were unani- 
mously adopted, and the Officers of the Association were 
chosen, Rev. Dr. Walker being our first President. " Re- 
marks were made by several gentlemen," says the record, 
" commendatory of the " step which had been taken, " as 
tending to strengthen the sacred bonds of spiritual brother- 
hood, to enliven mutual interest in the great cause of 



13 

Liberal Christianity, and especially to increase the number 
of preachers and to build up the Divinity School." Such, 
brethren, were the objects contemplated at the commencement 
of our Association. It becomes us not to lose sight of them. 
The Constitution under which we now act was adopted in 
1839. The Address delivered that year, the first of those 
which have been read before this body, became the occasion 
of so memorable a correspondence that it should be noticed, 
even if it lead us aside a moment from our direct path. In 
that Address Mr. Norton spoke in strong rebuke of certain 
opinions then " prevalent, at war," as he thought, " with a be- 
lief in Christianity." The severity of his language called 
forth a Letter from " an alumnus of this School," who was un- 
derstood to be the Rev. George Ripley, then a minister in 
Boston, in which Mr. Norton's positions were vigorously as- 
sailed. Mr. Norton replied. A Second, and a Third Letter 
from Mr. Ripley followed, — not brief notes, but elaborate dis- 
cussions. We may regret the tone of asperity in which the 
writers sometimes indulged, but the ability displayed on both 
sides gives a permanent value to these pamphlets. 

The subscription of 1829 had made provision for a new 
professorship only for a period of ten years. At the expira- 
tion of that time, the late Rev. Dr. Parkman, always a true 
friend of the School, by a donation of five thousand dollars, 
in addition to a sum of about equal amount for which the Col- 
lege was indebted to his father's generosity, enabled the Cor- 
poration to create a permanent chair of instruction in Pulpit 
Eloquence and the Pastoral Care ; to which, as well as to the 
Professorship established in the same year by a consolidation 
of the Hancock and Dexter foundations, no one needs to be 
informed that many duties were assigned besides those indi- 
cated by its title. 

It was through another example of liberality on the part of 
our churches that the inadequate income derived from the 
Hancock and Dexter foundations after their union was made 
available for the establishment of the .future professorship. 
So critical a moment was this in the history of our School, 
that the circular announcing its want declared it impossible 



14 

to postpone the application for aid, as, " in that case, the 
School at the close of the year would necessarily be sus- 
pended, and the students dispersed." By the concurrent 
efforts of the Society for Promoting Theological Education, 
which still looked on the School with a parental eye, and of 
the Berry Street Ministerial Conference, acting through a 
Committee, ten thousand dollars were obtained, and were 
given, in trust, to the Corporation, " to be used solely in con- 
junction with other funds of the College appropriated to the 
Dexter Professorship, or Lectureship, in Biblical Literature ; 
provided, however, that the said Professorship or Lectureship 
shall never be left vacant for an unreasonable time ; and pro- 
vided, also, that in case the funds transferred by the Society 
in 1830 should ever be appropriated for the support of a 
Theological School separate from the College," — a contin- 
gency for which provision had been made at that time, — 
" the money now contributed shall go with said funds." 

The vacancy created by Dr. Palfrey's resignation in 1839 
was filled the next year by the election of the present 
senior Professor in the School. Again I must be silent, not 
daring to tell with what fidelity and success he has for nearly 
thirty years discharged oppressive, if not discordant, duties, 
— duties the requisition of which ascribed to him extensive 
scholarship and diligent habits of life, as well as a heart de- 
voted to the interests of liberal theological culture ; with 
what patient and hopeful persistency he has toiled, alike in 
the vigor of his manhood and under the infirmities of age • 
how close he has drawn to himself the young men who 
have studied with him the pages of the sacred volume ; 
how large a debt of gratitude is due to him from every Eng- 
lish reader who desires to know what the poets and prophets 
and moralists of Hebrew antiquity actually wrote ; nor how 
grateful we should be to the Providence that has brought 
" the shadow on the dial backward." Long and cloudless be 
the twilight of a long and useful day ! 

Mr. Ware's connection with the school terminated with the 
academic year of 1842. Under recent developments of opin- 
ion in our body, the election of his successor became a mat- 



15 

ter of anxious interest. The choice of Dr» Francis probably 
conciliated as general favor as any that could have been made. 
In strong sympathy with what were considered progressive 
tendencies in thought and in society, he was a man of positive 
convictions and firm purposes. Intensely fond of books, he 
was attentive to every voice that suggested practical enter- 
prise. Discursive rather than profound, in a certain sense he 
knew too much. In his dread of doing injustice to any opin- 
ion, he sometimes kept the scales too equally balanced, by 
throwing in a doubt on this side, or a favorable interpretation 
on that. Fearful of exerting an influence that might obstruct 
the free action of the pupil's mind, he spread before his class 
the treasures which his wide research had gathered, rather 
than gave them the benefit of his own judgment in selecting 
the more valuable. It was a mistake in his theory of teaching, 
to which he adhered to the last. But never did a teacher 
come before his class with a more single desire to help them 
in their preparation for life's work, and never was there a 
more conscientious endeavor on the part of professor or pri- 
vate Christian to do his whole duty. If he ever grew weary 
under the burden of manifold service, how bravely did he 
gird up his strength and how sweetly maintain his com- 
posure ! Twenty-one years of faithful perseverance entitle 
him to enduring remembrance. 

Common sense at last awoke to lend its aid to the claim of 
humanity. The experiment of putting on the shoulders of 
two men work in which six might have found full employ- 
ment had been tried long enough. The Corporation of the 
College had never shown so hearty an interest in the School 
as its friends were disposed to demand of them. No one 
could deny that they held a difficult position, as the guardians 
of a University professedly and really unsectarian, and at the 
same time intrusted with the control, as a part of that Univer- 
sity, of an institution which, while it opened its doors with an 
impartial freedom, was understood to be maintained in the 
interest of a particular Christian sect. An adjustment of 
official duties under such circumstances required deliberate 
wisdom. Still there was more or less of outspoken complaint, 



16 

— not quite silenced yet, — that the Theological Department 
did not receive the attention which it merited. A general 
demand arose that relief should be found for overtasked 
energies, and some provision be made to supply obvious 
wants. The Society for Promoting Theological Education 
again interposed its friendly aid. Relying on subscriptions in 
several of our churches, it proposed to the Corporation to pay 
to the treasurer of the College, for a period of six years, a 
sum sufficient to secure the services of two non-resident pro- 
fessors, who should give instruction in Ecclesiastical History 
and Dogmatic Theology. Under this engagement, Dr. Hedge 
was in 1857 appointed to the former chair, and Dr. Ellis to 
the latter. Although able to be present in Divinity Hall but 
a few hours in each week, the direction which they gave to 
the inquiries of the students, and their personal influence, as 
well as the lectures which they delivered, were of great 
value ; and as the period for which the temporary arrange- 
ment was made drew near its close, the Corporation took ad- 
vantage of facilities which were now for the first time at 
their command, to give permanent enlargement to the abil- 
ity of the School to accomplish its purpose. A large bequest, 
made some years before under certain restrictions, became 
available ; and the Bussey Income Fund was used to meet 
the annual deficiency in the income from the Hancock and 
Parkman funds, and to furnish the means of continuing the 
Professorship of Ecclesiastical History under its former (and 
present) incumbent. The instruction which had been given 
in the carefully conducted exercises of the Professor of Dog- 
matic Theology was recommitted to one of the resident Pro- 



The death of Dr. Francis, in 1863, deprived the Meadville 
School of its esteemed Principal, and placed him in charge of 
the Parkman Professorship. The selection, so happily made, 
has not failed to fulfil its promise, and we trust that many 
future years will furnish continually augmenting proof of its 
wisdom. 

We should omit an important passage in our history if we 
said nothing of a discussion which at one time promised, 



17 

or threatened, a change in the Constitution of our School. 
The discontent felt at its but half-supplied need has more 
than once suggested the inquiry, whether its separation from 
the College would not be a benefit to all parties. A commit- 
tee of the Board of Overseers, to whom the subject was re- 
ferred in 1845, reported that it was " not expedient to sunder 
the relation then subsisting." A longer experience, how- 
ever, revived the question, and disclosed a difference of 
opinion. The Corporation petitioned the Supreme Court, as 
clothed with Chancery powers, to decree a separation ; and, 
on the Court's declining to act in the case for want of proper 
authority, were empowered by the Legislature " to resign 
the trusts heretofore assumed or accepted by them for the 
support of a Theological School ; " under a belief that the 
Society for Promoting Theological Education was ready to 
accept the trusts. The Society had been ready ; but, in obe- 
dience to that " law of liberty " which makes it the right 
of every one to change his mind for what he deems good 
and sufficient reasons, when asked to signify its assent by 
a formal vote, the Society not only refused, but took active 
measures to defeat the wish of the Corporation. After tedi- 
ous delay and considerable expense, the Government of the 
College withdrew their request, and the whole proceeding 
served only to show that men agree fully, neither with one 
another, nor with themselves. Still more recent propositions 
for introducing new features into our system of professional 
education have not reached such maturity as would bring 
them within the purpose of our present remarks. 



Our review of the fifty years embraced in the life of our 
School does not, indeed, show that " the little one has become 
a thousand, or the small one strong ; " but it exhibits a prog- 
ress which, on the whole, affords encouragement. The con- 
trast between 1816 and 1866 may justify congratulation. 
Then, neither special professor nor regular student, neither 
building nor school ; only the beginning of a movement which 
has grown to what we now see, and to the possibility of much 



18 

more into which the present may unfold itself. We have 
to-day a School, with which are connected honored names 
and cherished recollections ; three professors, or rather two 
and a fraction, — but the fraction worth so much that we are 
willing to call it a unit ; a building, large enough for more 
use than we make of it.; a library, of which we need not be 
ashamed ; a body of students, of whom their teachers speak 
as honest, earnest, and diligent ; and sufficient means to meet 
the present demand for pecuniary aid. Besides beneficiary 
funds at the disposal of the College Government, yielding 
about $900 annually, the Hopkins Trustees have this year 
made the unusually large appropriation of $2,400, and the 
Society which is constituted the trustee of Mr. Williams's 
legacy have distributed $1,350. 

Are we, therefore, satisfied with the present state of the 
institution, the record of whose half-century contains so 
much for which we may be grateful ? Do we desire no in- 
crease, no improvement, content with things as they are? 
Certainly not. We want more money, more books, more 
professors, more students ; we want more distinctness of aim, 
more faith, more preparation for the ministry. Do we, then, 
wish for a reconstruction of our School, on other principles or 
with other purposes than those entertained by its founders j 
or, are we only impatient to see those purposes more largely 
realized, those principles more resolutely illustrated? An 
intelligent reply to this question must be drawn from an ac- 
quaintance with the convictions under which the founders 
acted. 

It might be impertinent to remark that they believed in 
the importance of systematic and thorough training for the 
Christian ministry, if a disposition had not betrayed itself in 
some quarters to undervalue discipline of this kind. Piety is 
better than learning, practical talent more important than 
theological education, the impulse of the heart more trust- 
worthy than the skill of the head, — such truisms appear to be 
regarded as a conclusive answer to the argument in favor of 
Divinity Schools. Yet they do not in the slightest degree 
affect the weight of that argument, unless it can be shown that 



19 

study and friendship deprave the religious sentiment and unfit 
a man for usefulness. It is foolish, on the other extreme, to 
frown on every attempt to supply preachers except from insti- 
tutions of learning. The combination of good common sense 
with holy zeal often produces a result which scholastic dis- 
cipline cannot reach. Besides, our institutions of learning 
can afford but partial relief for a universal want. If we will 
have none but well-educated ministers, we shall leave the bulk 
of the people without any religious interpretation of life. 
But not the less need is there of ministers who shall have put 
themselves under careful and thorough instruction. The 
standard of preaching throughout the country, and the charac- 
ter of the other professional work which should be done, are 
gradually raised, or are saved from deterioration, by the ex- 
ample which they, as a class, shall set. Of course, there will be 
exceptions ; but, in general, preparatory discipline augments 
spiritual power. Wesley owed to Oxford a part of his suc- 
cess as a preacher to the English people ; Paul was a better 
apostle for having sat at the feet of Gamaliel. 

The School that was planted here by the men whose worthy 
deed comes into remembrance to-day had a definite object. 
It was meant to prepare young men for the Christian minis- 
try, — for future service among their fellow-men, and for 
service distinctively Christian. " We are assembled," said 
Dr. Channing in the opening sentence of his Discourse at the 
Dedication of Divinity Hall, " to set apart and consecrate this 
building to the education of teachers of the Christian reli- 
gion." Such had been the aim through the ten previous 
years ; such has continued to be the aim of those who have 
had charge of this seminary, — to fit men to teach the Chris- 
tian religion. It has not been the purpose of its friends to 
send into society philosophers or reformers, except so far as 
either (or both) philosophy and reform might help in carrying 
forward the great work, of which, in the language of the 
earliest Christian poem, Christ is " the alpha and the omega." 
Free inquiry has been encouraged from the first, but as a 
means in the prosecution of an end ; truth has been sought, but, 
when reached through the boldest or the most anxious inquiry, 



20 

still itself a means: the end is life, — life in the teacher, and 
life in the taught, — that life of which the Author of our reli- 
gion spoke when he said, " This is life eternal, to know thee, 
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." 
" Hid," as an apostle declared, " with Christ in God," this life 
could be found most easily, most surely, if not only, by faith 
in Christ as the reconciling and uniting medium between 
God and the human soul. The mediation of Christ becoming, 
therefore, a vital fact in the experience of the believer, 
faith in Christ not only was the motive power which led to 
the establishment of this School, but was regarded by its 
founders as the perennial source of the life that must be 
realized within its halls, and that should go forth from them 
to enter into, purify, and invigorate the life of the com- 
munity. I do not understand that a different view has yet 
been adopted by those who watch over its interests. 

In the pursuit of preparation for the Christian ministry, a 
study of the Bible rose into immediate and chief importance. 
Sacred criticism, in the largest sense of that term, was made 
to occupy a prominent place in the instruction given here. 
The attention recently drawn to this branch of study was one 
of the proximate causes of the establishment of our School. 
The change in doctrinal belief, which had been silently going 
on, introduced contemporaneously a more practical style of 
preaching and a more intelligent use of the Scriptures. 
Buckminster led the way on both these lines of progress, and 
in his death sacred learning suffered as great a loss as the 
pulpit. For many years scriptural interpretation was pur- 
sued with an avidity that can hardly be understood amidst 
the interest excited by the broader questions of the present 
day. Michaelis and Eosenmuller were names as familiar then 
as Mill or Spencer now, and were pronounced with as great 
respect. He who could buy nothing else bought a Gries- 
bach, and he who owned a Wetstein was rich indeed. Doubt- 
less there was danger — perhaps we fell into it — that the 
philological would overshadow the spiritual ; but such a mis- 
take only made more clear the reverence for the Bible into 
which our institution had been baptized. 



21 

Not in the interest, however, of any sectarian use of the 
sacred volume ; for a fundamental principle of our School has 
always been absolute freedom from sectarian dictation. If its 
teachers and patrons have been Unitarians, they have neither 
attempted nor wished to exert any influence in favor of their 
own opinions except such as came from fair argument, honest 
citation of Scripture, and a good life. They have neither 
restricted freedom nor controlled faith. What has been the 
consequence? That most of the graduates have entered 
the Unitarian ministry ? Undeniably ; but this is no more 
than was expected, and no more than we hold to have been 
inevitable under a frank and impartial treatment of the ques- 
tions at issue among Christian believers. That all have left 
the School for the Unitarian pulpit? No ; some have become 
ministers among the Trinitarian Congregationalists, some 
among the Episcopalians, and others among the Universal- 
ists. And this has caused neither surprise nor disappoint- 
ment ; for that men with free minds and honest hearts, but 
with those differences of constitutional bias which mark indi- 
viduals, should, under a system that attaches no stigma to 
dissent, arrive, all of them, at the same conclusion, is as im- 
probable as that all trees on the same soil and under the 
same exposure should be equally straight or should attain an 
equal height. 

Our anxiety to avoid sectarianism may be thought to have 
led us too far in another direction. Putting no reins on 
freedom, we have seen it pass the bounds of humble rever- 
ence and docile faith. Well ! I do not know that this should 
be an occasion of surprise or alarm. We have undertaken to 
solve a problem which has many times been given up in 
despair, and has never been handled with entire success, — 
how to unite faith and freedom in those just proportions 
which shall preserve each from suffering through its connec- 
tion with the other. That we cannot give the solution need 
not cover us with shame. We may be grateful that our 
formula is nearer the truth than any other. This School has 
never shown itself so unworthy of its origin as to disallow 
liberty, nor so regardless of its inheritance as to dishonor a 



22 

positive Christian faith. Either would be a suicidal policy. 
Happily we are not called to choose between a slow poison 
and the assassin's blow. 

If the intentions of those who became sponsors to Liberal 
Christianity for the future character of our School were such 
as I have described, few of us, probably, would advocate any 
material change in its organization. Yet it may be said that 
these intentions, however sincere or excellent, have not se- 
cured for it uninterrupted prosperity, nor do they enable us 
to look upon its present state with entire satisfaction. Do 
honest men feel entire satisfaction with anything human? 
That there are no defects, or that there have been no mis- 
takes, it would be transparent folly to affirm. That our be- 
loved institution is passing through a critical period in its 
history, it would be useless to deny. Yet two facts seem 
to me suited to allay apprehension. We have the principles 
and purposes which belonged to its early days not only pre- 
served on record, but incorporated with its very life ; while 
the other fact is not less suggestive of encouragement, — 
that the troubles which threaten or surround us are incidental 
to the period in the world's history through which all per- 
sonal or social life is passing. An institution that did not 
feel the movement going on around it would be more vener- 
able than useful. On the banks of the Rhine stands a castle, 
which, while others at no great distance have fallen into ruins 
and modern civilization has reared its dwellings in the neigh- 
borhood, has been fondly kept from decay, with its furniture 
renewed after the old pattern ; and there it stands, looking 
down on the busy river along which the steamboat rushes 
back and forth, and the wire of the telegraph transmits intel- 
ligence with electric rapidity, as it looked down upon the 
long silence or the sudden fierce conflict of the mediasval 
times, — a memorial of the past, which holds a half-dozen 
sleepy guardsmen within its walls, and receives an annual 
visit from its royal owner. We want no such literary or 
ecclesiastical structure, perched where the spirit of the age 
cannot have access to its apartments. 



23 

The anxiety we may feel arises in part from external 
manifestations, and partly from internal tendencies. The 
restless temper of the times discards our old methods, and 
asks for a quicker or more practical education of those who 
are eager to show the way of life to the multitude whose' 
" senses have never been exercised to discern both good and 
evil." Let it obtain its demand. The entrance to-morrow of 
a thousand earnest men into the ministry, not one of whom 
had ever shaken the dust of Cambridge or Meadville or any 
other Theological School from his feet, would be a blessing 
to the country. But would not the ten, or the two, or the 
fifty, whom Meadville or Cambridge might educate, be just 
as much needed ; not for city churches alone, for human 
nature and spiritual want are very much the same every- 
where, but for the general edification? As for the practical 
training which it is thought may be found by living in daily 
intercourse with the people, let me say in good faith what I 
think you, brethren, will confirm, that the first three months 
of ministerial life will teach more than could be learned in a 
year by that sort of discipline which at best can make one 
familiar only with the surface of parochial work, while the 
time which it shall occupy must be taken from hours of 
study for which, desired or needed .though it be, little op- 
portunity may be found afterwards. 

The temper of the times has introduced a change which 
some of us may regret, not only in our School, but in every 
similar institution. The same space on the prospectus may 
be allowed to exegetical study as formerly, but the interest 
is not the same. Doctrinal inquiry, too, which once held the 
first rank in the estimation alike of Orthodox and of Liberal, 
has been obliged to yield precedence to questions which 
philanthropy is pressing upon the Christian heart. The sub- 
jects assigned for dissertations at other anniversaries than 
our own, show what deference is paid to the public taste. 
Is the office of the Professor of Sacred Literature, or his 
who attempts to systematize the scriptural truths, there- 
fore a sinecure? By no means. When gravitation ceases 
to hold the world together, the Bible may cease to be the all- 



24 

pervasive influence of a Divinity School ; or, if the latter 
change should precede the other, the institution will fall to 
pieces as surely as would the material world were the mighty 
power of gravitation withdrawn. You may have something 
else without the Bible, and it may be something in which 
men shall take a senseless or a just pride, but it will not be a 
Divinity School, and, least of all, a Christian Divinity School. 

The tendencies which have developed themselves within 
our School, whether we view them with pleasure or with 
grief, are really currents from abroad which have made their 
way within its walls, and in regard to which the only ques- 
tion that its friends could decide was, whether they should 
come in under ground or in open daylight. I doubt if they 
will work any more mischief from having come in the latter 
way. Of two of these tendencies I beg leave to say a word 
in sincerity and in kindness ; and for the sake of distinctness 
I will call them the philosophical and the sceptical. Are 
they not one and the same, it may be asked. Under certain 
aspects they appear to be the same, but they may be distin- 
guished from each other. 

Philosophy is the comprehensive term that includes the va- 
rious explanationswhich man may give of the universe, or of 
its several parts. In former times it was thought that such ex- 
planations belonged to men of acute minds or scientific culture, 
and had not a very intimate connection with the religious 
experience. Now, it is directly maintained in some instances, 
and virtually in many others, that philosophy must give us 
the basis of a spiritual life. When logically consistent, as it 
is every day becoming more and more, this statement makes 
human nature the starting-point of religious inquiry and re- 
ligious faith. To find truth or God, we must begin in our- 
selves. Man is the unit in computing spiritual forces, the 
first step in every constructive process of thought. I do not 
mean to address you with argument in support or in refuta- 
tion of thrs theory, — as for my present purpose I may style 
it. That the root of our troubles may be found here, is the 
single point I wish to urge on your consideration. The dif- 
ferences among us go down deeper than interpretation or 



25 

criticism, deeper than the questions which the Unitarian con- 
troversy brought forward sixty years ago. They go doAvn 
to the depths. Now, some of us think we cannot go down 
so far ; and others think that human nature is misunderstood 
by the philosophy of the day, which, if it begin with an error 
in its appreciation of man, is not likely to be sound in the 
conclusions it shall present respecting Christ and God. Phil- 
osophy, too, it is said by some (denied by others), has always 
wrought mischief in the Christian Church. Witness Gnos- 
ticism in the early age, and Calvinism at the time of the 
Reformation, — one as much a philosophical system as the 
other ; Calvinism beginning with a human will in God, as 
modern thought begins with a divine being in man, and so 
working down to its grievous falsehoods, as this works up 
to its transcendental fancies. This modern style of thought 
has come into our Theological School through open doors. 
Have closed doors, with ingenious fastenings, kept it out of 
Andover or New Haven ? Shall we turn it out, and shut the 
door against it? If we can, we may. If we cannot, it must 
stay. Shall we stay too ? That, brethren, is a question 
which every one must answer for himself. But really, if 
there be nothing worse than a wrong philosophy, active and 
confident as that is, it seems to me that the best which they 
who do not like it can do is to remain where they can speak 
to it in the name of the Lord, — not as Peter did when he 
said to Simon, " Repent of this thy wickedness," for we have 
no right to assume that there is any wickedness about it, but 
as Paul wrote in tender love to those who were in danger 
from false teaching, " Beware lest any one spoil you through 
philosophy, after the tradition of men, and not after Christ." 
But there is something worse; there is the sceptical ten- 
dency. Let us look at that. What is its character ? We 
must not be misled by a word. Scepticism may be audacious 
and profane, or it may be simply inquisitive. It may be a 
settled habit of the mind, or it may be only a tentative pro- 
cess ; and there is all the difference between the two that 
there is between an assertion and a question. Moreover, 
active scepticism and steadfast faith are sometimes found in 



26 

union, — the vessel tossed upon the perilous waves, yet hold- 
ing by its anchor. A disposition, which is often met abroad, 
we have been told, has shown itself in this School, to doubt 
and then to reject many truths which the Christian Church in 
all ages has accounted sacred, and which Unitarians have held 
as dear as any other Christian body. This disrespect has 
grown more positive and aggressive, till, under the names of 
theism and radicalism, it attempts to organize a faith of its 
own and to subvert the whole fabric of Christian theology. 
It denies the lordship of Christ and the authority of the 
Bible, making the soul, or " the spirit " in the soul, the 
arbiter on all questions of belief or duty. Can a faith which 
draws its support, and indeed its justification, from the New 
Testament, maintain alliance or friendship with such denial ? 
Certainly not, unless men reverse the law of moral affinities. 
But the practical question for those who hold this faith in- 
volves other conditions. If Radicalism means only uproot- 
ing, and they who accept the name expend their strength in 
denial, there is no ground of sympathy left between them 
and believers ; but if they, too, have real faith, though it do 
not answer to our idea of Christian faith, and join with it re- 
ligious sensibility and a conscientious attitude of the soul 
towards a spiritual life, there is room for mutual respect and 
confidence. What ! without disloyalty to Christian convic- 
tions ? Yes, provided we retain, and on the other hand 
concede, the right to speak of what is deemed to be error in 
terms of earnest dissent, or even severe condemnation. Be- 
cause conservatism and progress look in opposite directions, 
it does not follow that the Conservative and Progressive par- 
ties cannot hold intercourse. The man who is crowding 
steam and the man who is turning the brakes may not only 
travel on the same train, but may exchange friendly words, 
while each opposes the effort of the other with all his might. 
Apply such an illustration, or the principle it is meant to up- 
hold, to our School, or to any similar institution, it may be 
said, and the result will be friction, strife, failure, ruin. Un- 
doubtedly, — if there be not a dominant will, and a settled 
policy of action. For the sake alike of peace and of pros- 



27 

perity, for the sake of the School, and for the Gospel's 
sake, the control must remain in the hands of those who 
represent the original design, which was, as we have seen, to 
make Christian ministers ; and this control must be exercised 
in the interest of a reverential and grateful faith towards 
him who is the Head, even Christ. To admit to an enjoy- 
ment of privileges is one thing; to invite into a share in the 
government is another thing. The former may be nothing 
more than justice ; the latter nothing less than folly. 

For the same reason I cannot but think that an at- 
tempt to introduce into the School teachers of different reli- 
gious persuasions, all coveting the Christian name, would 
result in confusion rather than advantage. Let this be a 
Liberal, unsectarian, Unitarian School for another half-cen- 
tury, as it has been through the perplexities and trials 
(which have not been few) of its first fifty years, and long 
before the end of that period, whatever new difficulties may 
arise, the old ones will have disappeared. An institution this 
must be, if it would fulfil the intentions of its past benefac- 
tors or the hopes of its present friends, which shall prepare 
Christian men for Christian labor ; not satisfied with making 
scholars or theologians, still less content to dismiss from its 
care only accomplished writers or acute reasoners, but eager 
to send into the world those who, through a consecration 
of their own upon which God has put his seal, shall be able 
to carry on the work which Jesus committed to his dis- 
ciples when he said, " Go ye and preach the gospel to every 
creature,'' — the gospel of redemption for sinners, of endless 
life for human souls, of joy and hope and glory for all who 
shall receive the commandment in faith. This is the purpose 
for which our School will be needed long after questions 
which now agitate the community shall have been dropped, 
perhaps to be again revived (how many of them are now but 
old questions modernized !), and to be again sent back to the 
land of shadows, — long after the philosophy and the science 
which now use such arrogant speech shall have entered into 
the service of the religion of Christ ; for ignorance and sin 
will not then have left the earth, and they will need, to re- 



28 

buke the one and to enlighten the other, the influences of 
truth and love which may go forth from an institution like 
this, in the charge of those who shall successively leave its 
retirement to bear among their fellow-men the blessings of 
the everlasting covenant of peace which God has revealed 
to us through the ministry of his dear Son. 

And this, brethren, is a foundation broad enough to sustain 
the belief that our School will live, and grow, and be more 
and more an instrument in the Divine hand for executing 
God's gracious purpose towards mankind. There is a place for 
it in the world, and a place which it must fill. Changes might 
doubtless be introduced that Avould adapt it more to the 
wants and the opportunities of the present hour; other 
changes hereafter, to adjust its action to future conditions in 
its relative life. I have said that an institution enwrapt in 
its traditions, insensible to the social movement in the midst 
of which it stands, retains its tranquillity at the expense of its 
usefulness. Let me now add, that no institution suited to the 
times can remain as it was fifty years ago. Has not the 
University to which our School belongs acknowledged this 
fact with an honorable frankness ? Is it not acknowledged 
on all hands? When a Bishop of London says that "the 
Church must keep abreast of the age," it is time for every 
one to see that he is not found among the loiterers. The old 
relations between religion and science, for example, are no 
longer what they were when one was in its cradle and the 
other on its sick-bed. Now, each in its vigor, they must 
grapple for a while ; and then, having found each other's 
strength, they will be close friends. We need not fear that 
the instructors in our School will not welcome improvement. 
They do not deprecate criticism upon the methods they pur- 
sue. If they commit errors, they invite remtu-k that shall 
point them out, taking as their own the words of the learned 
and candid Le Clerc, " Nulla ratio est, cur vera monenti nos 
adsentiri non profiteamur ; quamquam benigna monitio multo 
gratior est." 

Our duty in the case, brethren, it is not difficult to define. 
What shall be done for the Cambridge School, is a question 



29 

that has been asked more than once of late. What shall ive 
do for it ? Love it, and stand by it. If its faults were ten 
times as many and its failures ten times as great as its most 
uneasy friend or its most captious enemy can prove them to 
have been, it might still ask — ask ? nay, demand of us — the 
support which sons should give to the mother that has 
nourished them from her own bosom. If the question recur 
in its practical aspect, what shall be done, the answer is 
easily furnished. Change the form of the inquiry, and the 
answer springs to our lips. What does the School want at 
this moment? More men. More men, that there may be 
more instruction and more influence. Who does not see that 
there should be two new Professorships ? Each of the resi- 
dent Professors is now burdened with double duty. Divide 
the work by increasing the number of the workmen. Is it idle 
to talk of such an enlargement ? Then it is vain to think of 
putting the School on a satisfactory basis. So far from being 
impracticable, it is perfectly feasible. Fifty thousand dollars 
will accomplish all we desire ; and that is a small sum in view 
of the good that would be done, or in comparison with the 
gifts which men are every day bestowing for the advance- 
ment of letters, science, and religion. Why, we have heard 
so often within the last three years of munificent endow- 
ments — here a hundred thousand and there half a million 
dollars, and all over the country noble examples of liberality 
— that they have ceased to excite surprise. Is there no rich 
man who will give the forty thousand dollars that would 
found a Professorship in our School? There must be more 
than one such man, if we could only bring the facts just as 
they are before them. Then we will raise, — we poor minis- 
ters, with the grace of God to help us in our address to our 
people, will raise ten thousand more. And with this money 
in our hands, when we go to the Corporation, and say to 
them, " You will have next year from that part of the Bussey 
bequest which cannot be diverted from theological educa- 
tion a surplus income of from a thousand to fifteen hundred 
dollars, with the probability of an equal amount every year till, 
by the termination of the annuities with which that bequest 



30 

is now encumbered, you will be able to change a provisional 
into a permanent arrangement ; and we ask you, taking the 
sum we now bring, to make the provisional arrangement at 
once," does any one believe they would hesitate a half- 
hour? Let them feel much or little interest in this special 
department, as guardians of the University they could not 
hesitate. And then our School would have its proper organ- 
ization, under a sufficient body of teachers ; which it has 
never had from its beginning to this day. 

And then, with more instruction than can now be given, 
the personal influence which is so important an element in 
the education of young men, for impulse and for restraint, 
wholesome in both directions when judiciously exerted, and 
which can be but partially felt by the students where the 
teacher's other duties absorb his time, such an influence 
would penetrate and pervade the School, moulding the char, 
acter, if not shaping the faith of its members. That faith 
would be strengthened by sympathy with those in whom it 
was seen to be both intelligent conviction and the heart's 
dearest treasure, is inevitable. That character would gain 
purity and energy within the atmosphere which moral and 
spiritual excellence creates around itself, must be accounted 
a still higher benefit; for, after all, it is character that we 
wish to produce, simplicity and force of character, — per- 
sonal holiness, the best preparation for professional work. 
In a School like this, besides the enthusiasm of study, there 
should be the enthusiasm of a divine life ; and what will so 
effectually help these young men to realize in their own souls 
this life as the presence among them day after day the year 
through, the three years through, of one (of more, if they 
can be found ; but in the variety of gifts which God has dis- 
tributed among men, he who has the most knowledge, or the 
most ability for teaching, may not have the most of heavenly 
fire or of magnetic attraction), the presence of one who shall 
put his own lofty purpose and fervent piety and tender 
charity and Christian force and self-denying zeal, — in .a word, 
his own spiritual enthusiasm, into the breasts of all who come 
near him, and who must learn to honor, love, and imitate him ? 



. 31 

Those of you, brethren, who listened yesterday to the Ad- 
dress on Ministerial Education hear its faint echo now ; may 
it recall the original appeal ! Give to this School the right 
man. Give to it all it wants, — men, sympathy, support. 
Let your recollections cling around it ; let your hopes enfold 
it ; let your prayers call down the Divine favor upon it. A 
half-century has passed, and another half-century has begun ; 
let those, who on the next semi-centennial celebration shall 
stand where we now stand, be able to say of us, as we say of 
the early friends of this Seminary, — they did their part 
well, and we rejoice that they yielded to no discouragement 
and disregarded no obligation. 



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